What Would Webber Think?

On our second trip to Lebanon we went to see a musical at the Casino. I was looking forward to it because on our first visit we'd seen a musical by the same composer called "The Last Days of Socrates". That was the first time I heard Carole Samaha sing (above-the pretty one). The musical we went to see this time was called "He Rose in 3 Days" and she was playing Mary Magdeleine. Ghassan Rahbani was playing Judas (above-the bearded one).

We were sitting on the 2nd row with our friends. A family friend worked in the box office and was able to get us free tickets. Not bad, huh? The show started and even though it was in Arabic I was still able to follow what was going on and enjoy the music. (I mean, I should, right? LOL) After a while I noticed that the hats the priests were wearing looked a bit familiar. After listening a bit more closely, I realized the music sounded familiar as well. I leaned over to Baba and asked, "Are they singing 'ho sanna, hey sanna, sanna, sanna, ho, sanna, hey sanna, ho sanna?' " He looked very impressed at my ability to pick up Arabic (?) and I said, "Honey, it's 'Jesus Christ Superstar'."

Now to understand this next part there's something you need to understand about my husband. When it comes to movies he has absolutely no memory. Now over the years this has improved slightly but only just. Several years ago we saw the movie "American Beauty". About 3 days later or so I was referring to something that had happened in the movie and he had no idea what I was talking about. I had to tell him the whole story. The whole story. Then he remembered what I was talking about. So understand that without the ability to remember a movie 3 days after seeing it, this next part of the story is an outright miracle.

When we were first married we rented the movie "Jesus Christ Superstar". Now, 4 years later we were sitting in a theater in Lebanon watching this musical. The last scene in act 1 opens. It's the scene where Judas is in the temple and he's made the deal for the betrayal. They did not change a single note. Even Baba, with his inability to remember a movie 3 days later, recognized the music.

I'll repeat it in case you missed it. He recognized the music!

We started laughing because this was funny on so many levels. Our friends who were with us (we're on the 2nd row, remember?) look over at us like they don't know who we are. I mean, we're laughing at a great work by a famous Lebanese composer that tells about the Passion!

So we settle down and then they come on stage. The dancers. I honestly don't remember there being any dancers in this scene in the movie. My first reaction was, "What are these Cats doing here?" You notice I said, "Cats?" Then I realized they weren't actually Cats. They were just Jellicle Demons. {insert rolling eyes smilie here} I lean over to my husband and tell him what they're supposed to be and he starts cracking up. So here we are on the 2nd row laughing our heads off at Judas' impassioned song. Our friends not only no longer know us, they no longer even want to be there. They're just hoping for a big gaping hole to open up in the floor and swallow them.

I do feel sorry for the poor guy. He did a fantastic job playing Judas, he's a really good singer, I loved his performance. I just had to laugh my head off! Sorry.

So during intermission we're chatting with our friend who got us the seats and a couple of priests who were sitting in front of us. They're talking about how this was "Jesus Christ Superstar"-NOT (it would never play in a Maronite Catholic country like Lebanon-that would cause rioting that would teach Hezbollah a thing or two). They said a few overly flattering things about it but I'm afraid if I tried to write about it I'd start laughing so hard I'd start crying and there would be too many typos from trying to type through tears.

The first time we saw a musical there I loved the music so much I bought the soundtrack. This time there were no soundtracks. I wonder why?